Ralph Burns, Perpetual Motion (Fresh Sound). Infrequently mentioned today, Burns was one of the great jazz arrangers of the 1940s and 50s, with a later career scoring for radio, TV and motion pictures. His arrangements were central to the success of several Woody Herman herds. The final movement of … [Read more...]
Archives for 2006
CD
Jenny Scheinman, 12 Songs (Cryptogramophone). Scheinman is the violinist who mesmerized a Portland Jazz Festival audience earlier this year as a member of guitarist Bill Frisell's Unspeakable Orchestra. Frisell is aboard here as a member of Scheinman's band, and much, but no means all, of the … [Read more...]
CD
John La Barbera, On The Wild Side (Jazz Compass). This has been out for three years, but I just caught up with it. I'm glad that I did. La Barbera's arrangements for Buddy Rich and Woody Herman impressed me years ago, and so does this new batch. The album bears endorsements by Elmer Bernstein and … [Read more...]
DVD:Keith Jarrett
Keith Jarrett, Tokyo Solo (ECM). With this magnificent DVD, the pianist banishes worries that his years under seige by chronic fatigue syndrome may have ended his solo career. He demonstrates, too, that he has learned the discipline of self-editing, reducing the average length of his inventions … [Read more...]
Book
Catherine Dinker Bowen, Miracle at Philadelphia: The Story of the Constitutional Convention, May-September 1787 (Back Bay). With all of today's arguments about what is, isn't or should be constitutional, Bowen's classic offers a refresher course on the original arguments, who made them, why, and how … [Read more...]
After John Lewis, Who?
Deborah, who may or may not have a last name, wrote a few days ago about her encounter with "I Remember Clifford" and followed up with this message. Thank you for helping to educate me! Regarding the John Lewis-Wonderful World of Jazz album ... I have twice given it to other jazz newbies, but new … [Read more...]
The Last Word
Our colloquy on annoying, useless, stupid and redundant words and phrases could probably go on forever, but it won't. It's time to wrap it up with these entries from Rifftides readers. Any time soon. Ramping up. Heart-wrenching. (From Gene Lees) Add to the list of unnecessary expressions: "To … [Read more...]
English 101 Continued
It was not my intention to open a forum covering the range of abuse of the English language. At some point, we'll have to move on, but this is too much fun to cut off yet. If we had stopped, I wouldn't have been able to mention what happened at dinner tonight in Seattle. I thanked the waitress for … [Read more...]
Ah, Seattle
It's Jazz And Other Matters, remember? We'll get back to jazz before long. Rifftides readers have my mind on words, and Seattle has my mind on the splendid weather they're having here and the hike I took around Green Lake. When the weather is good, as it is most Junes, there is no more … [Read more...]
Comment: Clifford Brown
A Rifftides reader named Deborah writes in response to the Clifford Brown item: Ah. The penny just dropped. I am a fairly new listener to jazz, and sometimes I feel like I'll never get up to speed. The first album I ever bought was John Lewis-The Wonderful World of Jazz and it remains an all-time … [Read more...]
Comments: Those Phrases
Reaction has begun coming in to the more or less lighthearted Rifftides posting about annoying, overused phrases. Here's a note from Bill Holman. Doug, Your response to "if you will' is the same as mine. Nancy is still taken aback when, while we're watching TV, I blurt "I won't!". How about "as we … [Read more...]
Clifford Brown
Fifty years ago today at The Seattle Times, as I ripped copy from the wire machines my eye went to a story in the latest Associated Press national split. A young trumpeter named Clifford Brown had been killed early that morning in a car crash. My heart stopped for a beat or two. My stomach churned. … [Read more...]
Other Matters: Gregory Curtis
In 1975, Mike Levy, the publisher of Texas Monthly, and Gregory Curtis, a staff writer, visited me in my office at KSAT-TV in San Antonio. They were on a tour to create good will for the fledgling magazine, which was even then attracting national notice for its quality. In the course of the … [Read more...]
Phrases I Wish Never To Hear or Read Again
"That said..." ."..the likes of..." (He has played with the likes of Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Charlie Parker and Andres Segovia.) "...looking to..." (The President is looking to cut taxes.) "...Indeed." Mindlessly intoned by anchors as a way of demonstrating sophisticated understanding. Or … [Read more...]
Terri Hinte
Terri Hinte has been fired by Concord Records. Her name will not mean a thing to most of you, but her work has indirectly benefited serious jazz listeners for decades. The news of her dismissal is of intense interest to many writers because Ms. Hinte is the very model of what a record company … [Read more...]
Other Places: Poolside Jazz
A Rifftides Reader who identifies himself only as David P. sent a link to his internet radio website, which is called Poolside Jazz: Cooler Than The Cool Side Of The Pillow. The music I heard there in a half-hour visit was cool only in the slang sense. In succession, David P. played Fletcher … [Read more...]
Other Places: Barbara Nessim
Barbara Nessim, the artist known for her Rolling Stone, TIME and New York Times Magazine covers, among other works, has a fascinating website tracking her output from the beginning of her career in the 1960s to the present. It includes a piece of video showing Nessim's hands as she invents place … [Read more...]
Desmond: First Place Again
The Jazz Journalists Association announced its annual awards last night in New York. Roy Haynes was honored for lifetime achievement in jazz. Sonny Rollins was named musician of the year, Dafnis Prieto up and coming musician of the year, Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane at Carnegie Hall, … [Read more...]
Harry Allen. The Reptet.
After Fathers Day activity (a present, a card, a few phone calls) subsided, I listened to two CDs, one because the publicist for the band keeps calling and asking if I've heard it, the other because I try never to go longer than a month without a Harry Allen fix. Harry Allen Allen is a … [Read more...]
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